Posted
by
BeauHDon Wednesday August 16, 2017 @06:20PM
from the lay-down-the-law dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Earlier this year Roku was harshly confronted with this new piracy crackdown when a Mexican court ordered local retailers to take its media player off the shelves. While this legal battle isn't over yet, it was clear to Roku that misuse of its platform wasn't without consequences. While Roku never permitted any infringing content, it appears that the company has recently made some adjustments to better deal with the problem, or at least clarify its stance. Pirate content generally doesn't show up in the official Roku Channel Store but is directly loaded onto the device through third-party "private" channels. A few weeks ago, Roku renamed these "private" channels to "non-certified" channels, while making it very clear that copyright infringement is not allowed. A "WARNING!" message that pops up during the installation of these third-party channels stresses that Roku has no control over the content. In addition, the company notes that these channels may be removed if it links to copyright infringing content.

"By continuing, you acknowledge you are accessing a non-certified channel that may include content that is offensive or inappropriate for some audiences," Roku's warning reads. "Moreover, if Roku determines that this channel violates copyright, contains illegal content, or otherwise violates Roku's terms and conditions, then ROKU MAY REMOVE THIS CHANNEL WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE."

I have both a FireTV stick and a Roku 2. I find the Roku crashes less and generally the same applications seem more stable on the Roku than the FireTV stick. That's only one data point, but there you have it.

Well, the problem is not really Roku, it's the mexican judge that blocked the selling of their devices due to easily being able to watch illegal content. By doing this, they can sell their device again. In reality, the order of the judge has also implications for any android or whatever OS based mediastreamer which let's you easily be able to watch illegal content..

As long as you can sideload to the Roku [howtogeek.com], this is a non-problem. Roku is going to take the apps off the store, and maybe even take store apps off of devices, but if you are competent you can sideload apps.

I would add that if you live in the UK, a full range of catchup apps for all the major broadcast channels. Unlike some countries with shit for broadcast TV, this is a major plus point.

Along with any combination of Netfix, Amazon Prime and NowTV (last one is UK only but a big deal for on demand in the UK) all in a single box, with the option for Plex/Emby too if that takes your fancy and you have a winner.

The only service missing is the UKTV Play which is a trio of lesser watched channels.

Depends where you live. In the UK there is no better option that a Roku for streaming TV period. It is the only device that comes close to doing all the catchup and paid for streaming services.

Well actually there is, an LG SmartTV has everything built into the TV (well apart from STV but that only effects those living in Scotland), but most people are not going to buy a new TV just for that so in the meantime Roku it is.

I love my Rokus. I have two of them, a first generation model and a new Premiere+. The Premiere+ is pretty nice. Most video files I throw at it play natively without transcoding, unlike my iPad and Android phone (Nexus 6P).

But Roku the company has always been confused about their role in the channel space. They want to be your cable company but they don't want any part in making sure their channels are high quality (similar to Google's historical role in the Android apps space) or even if they work properly, preferring to shift the blame onto the channel's authors. In fact, I once suggested in their online forum that they could automate the checking of each channel's videostreams as a way to determine which channels should be removed from the channel store, but they temporarily banned me and then locked the thread because my suggestion was "not welcomed."

So it's nice to hear that they're taking a more active approach to ensuring customer satisfaction, but it would be nice if they had been doing it all along without government intervention.

7. When creating a new Roku account, you will be required to provide a payment method. The payment method allows you to purchase subscriptions to popular channels, rent or buy movies and TV shows, or make other purchases from the Roku Channel Store.

The real difference between Roku and a cable company is that Roku doesn't own the cable or fiber line to your home.

7. When creating a new Roku account, you will be required to provide a payment method. The payment method allows you to purchase subscriptions to popular channels, rent or buy movies and TV shows, or make other purchases from the Roku Channel Store.

The real difference between Roku and a cable company is that Roku doesn't own the cable or fiber line to your home.

You should learn to read your own quotes. Your payment method allows you to purchase extra stuff. Or not.

And the fact that it doesn't own the line to your house is just another reason why Roku is nothing like a cable company.

"Channel" means application, right? The same way Amazon Echo uses the word "skill" rather than "application".

"App" seems fine to me. A reasonable abbreviation of a technical term, and used roughly correctly. Do we have to entertain each and every company's push to invent a new word to pretend that they're doing something new?

no channel means channel, like on a cable box. there are a few "channels" that do app like things (which are done by geeks for geeks) but the mainstay is exactly what the name describes, a channel to watch content.